Archers thread #167: Welcome to Ambridge, the world capital of loose ends! Discuss The Archers here.

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

Thank you, @PseudoBadger, for kicking off this long, long series of Archers threads.

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For newer listeners, lurkers or those who just have no idea what we're talking about, @DadDadDad has created this useful thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/radio_addicts/3557323-For-Archers-fans-a-guide-to-acronyms-on-the-long-running-discussion-threads-and-any-other-meta-thread-questions-you-may-have - BOOP point for him! (See thread for explanation.)

Over to you!

In AIBU I was pasted for suggesting that someone in a city might, providing the sun was shining, have some inkling of which way was north. Someone said that’d work only at sunrise or sunset, but not during the day.

Oh dear!

I don't know because (as an apatheist) I never asked. She wasn't a close friend. I did find it very odd, especially as the conversation happened very soon after her ordination. But who knows why people do what they do?

In AIBU I was pasted for suggesting that someone in a city might, providing the sun was shining, have some inkling of which way was north. Someone said that’d work only at sunrise or sunset, but not during the day.

When I was teaching, in several schools if I asked a class which way was North they would all almost always point at the board. Perhaps that someone had been at a similar school. I hope my students left me knowing a bit more.

@Gonners ”But who knows why people do what they do?”

Indeed, yes.
At least it gives us something to discuss re The Archers’ characters.

pauls relationship being such big news is so dull

While that’s undoubtedly true, @Bruisername, there had to be some reason for the Stables muppets to be on a night out so they could bump into Fallon and report next week to assorted villagers that she was giving it large on the dance floor and knocking back Jägerbombs like there was no tomorrow. When Harrison hears, he will be really pleased for Fallon that she was able to enjoy a carefree night out. Or outraged that she was flaunting herself in a public place while he was seeking comfort in the Lord. One of those things. Probably.

git

Well it was also thrown in so Fallon could reflect on relationships and control

Yeah, that too. But I’m hoping the ensuing row will be both epic and FINAL. She should have given him his cards the other night.

I don't get why Alan is so insistent on Harrison telling Fallon about the prayers. It was his moment, not hers, unless the SLs want him to do this and Fallon is beyond angry and shows him the door. After she's had a random shag at the disco and gets pregnant

And presumably only at the equinoxes, because the sun rises and sets in a slightly different place (on the horizon/between the buildings) each day.

Anyway, you can tell which way is north: that's where the lichen grows on the high-rises and office blocks.

But she'd have had a termination if it was viable.

It's very sad to think of someone who hoped for spiritual/religious support and advice ending up with an amateur social worker instead.

We have been hearing a lot of what Harrison wants, and this performative stuff with Alan, but no sense that Harrison on his own has prayed or attempted to work out how he is managing his relationship with god or his neighbour (which at the moment includes Fallon and Martha). I'm glad in one way that we haven't because that isn't really what TA is all about, but some sense that he actually has an interest in anything beyond his own dream children would make him more interesting.

Or perhaps they could back off all this relationships and stereotyped non-credible religion bollox and give us some farming and flower'n'produce and wildlife (without cruelty to animals please).

And some cooking. I suppose they still haven't shortened the interval between writing and broadcasting (RTE did a short-lived radio serial during Covid written and broadcast within a week, just saying) so I suppose they'd be well advised to steer clear of weather. But they could re-introduce a sense of place, with clear indications of how big the various landforms and houses are.

If I were feeling kind towards Harrison @DeanElderberry I'd suggest that he's been in such a tizzy that he's forgotten about many thinks that are a possibility for him, like quiet contemplation, and supporting his wife.

As for the Grundies selling Bartleby, I'm furious with them! You do not sell an old and/or broken down pony that you supposedly love and has been in the same home for decades, and you especially do not sell him to some random person who bids an obscene amount without asking a few questions first. Ed put more angst into selling his prize Ram 'Lamb' for £5k than he did palming off his deceased father's prized possession.

I agree that it'll all go tuts up for then somehow. My money is still on Bartleby burgers.

Over the years, Bartleby has probably had so many meds that he's unfit for human consumption. Otherwise surely he would have been eaten long ago.

They’ll have spent the money before it’s received and then bartleby will die

Ed put more angst into selling his prize Ram 'Lamb' for £5k than he did palming off his deceased father's prized possession.

Ed’s father - Eddie - is still with us. It’s Eddie’s father who has gone from this life, leaving only a pony as old as Time.

How quickly Joe was forgotten. The grundy men are callous

Agreed! This storyline has made me furious with the grundy men. I'm even thinking there may be hope for George after all since he was on his mum's side for keeping poor old Bartleby.
I feel I need to know how everyone voted!

Fallon and Harrison just seem completely incompatible at this point. And that's before you factor in his appalling and selfish behaviour. I can't see how they can carry on.

I despise the Grundy men even more now.

Fallon actress cringingly bad at acting drunk. Shows how good the Alice actress is.

But it’s always at its highest at noon (or 1pm in summer) hence the old analogue watch method of finding N (which I can never remember and always have to work out from first principles).

How long do you think it will be before “clockwise” and “anticlockwise” become obsolete?

You can interpolate between setting in SW and NW depending on where you are in the calendar, but those who think you can only recognise where the sun is twice a day probably think it always sets in the W

Anyway, you can tell which way is north: that's where the lichen grows on the high-rises and office blocks. OK, I deserved that.

ThatAgileGoldMoose
Ed put more angst into selling his prize Ram 'Lamb' for £5k than he did palming off his deceased father's prized possession.

Ed's prize RamLamb was called Peppa Pig.... And Joe was his grandfather, Eddie is still alive, and Bartleby did not belong to Joe. Joe had him on loan, and it was a right bloody cheek to include the animal in his will. It is also probably illegal for the Grundys to sell Bartleby now, since he is not theirs to sell.

I used to use a locally-tailored version of this in schools and with groups

https://dces.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/128/2013/08/Where-You-At-Quiz.pdf

• I'd have added (from memory) - what is your local bedrock? If you stand on X side of Y bridge what direction is the water flowing - where does it come from, where does it join water from another source? Where is the nearest peat bog?

One of the best (it was always non-written, self-scoring, but some groups were readier to shout out answers) was a lad from a Traveller background who was charmed to be 'top of the class' for once.

I'd love to have some consistent Ambridge facts along those lines.

I wouldn't put it past George to have done his sums and worked out that he personally stands to make more from his videos of Bartleby while he's around than he would get from his share of the sale proceeds.